Veggie Ready

Growing my own tomatoes, flowers, and veggies has always been something I have been interested in.  I remember going in our backyard when I was little and picking kumquats from the tree, and raspberries, blackberries, and cucumbers from the vine. Gardening has always been something I have longed to do. However, I do not have a green thumb to save my life! Seriously, I have tried growing ferns, flowers, and cactus. I kill every single thing I grow. :o) I am sure the main reason has been due to my laziness and forgetfulness, but I am determined to grow something....anything!

This past November we moved into a new house. I was so pleased when I realized that the previous owners had tomato plants, 2 compost bins (had no idea what compost even was), and 2 raised beds for growing veggies.  We really needed a written guide on how to manage a garden, a pool, and an acre of manicured land that lacks a sprinkler system! But, the owners were nice enough to give us a nice long walk through a week before we moved in. One of the things that the previous owners told me to do with the veggie garden was to use mulched leaves from the yard (which there was plenty of) to enrich the soil in the raised beds. She also told me to use bigger leaves to lay on top of the mulched leaves before the first frost.  I took her advice and in Mid-November I put down the layer of leaves.

Presley and I were able to get outside today and play in the garden. I decided to rake the large leaves out of the raised beds...don't know if I was supposed to do this, but I did. Ha! To my surprise when I did this there were very few weeds! The soil underneath was still moist from last week's rain and the mulched leaves turned into great soil.  I am very excited to try to take on a garden of my own....something that NEVER would have been remotely possible had I not had a starting point.  I am not feeling very confident about actually growing much of anything, mainly because I picked several "weeds" (weeds that turned out to be garlic, onion, and a few other unknown crops) out of the garden this past November ;o) I am also pretty sure the tomato plant is dead. ;o(  However, If I am able to grow just one vegetable then I will consider it to be a success. ;o) So, here's to growing 1 vegetable! Don't laugh, that really is my goal. ha! Well,  Here's a website on Organic Gardening the former owner told me about: Autumn Leaves